Steven Bridges has a lot to say about demonetisation…
For months now, the “adpocalypse” has been affecting YouTube channels big and small. Many creators earn their living through making videos, but are finding it harder to rely on YouTube as a source of income as its algorithms have been demonetising videos deemed unsuitable for advertisers – an issue previously covered here at TenEighty.
In his new video, Steven gives a concise and straightforward explanation of YouTube’s ad policy, as well as the effect it’s had on his channel.
Steven states that in recent months, his channel has been thriving, with one video hitting a million views within 15 days and many others hitting well over 100,000. He says, “It is the first time I’ve ever had the advertising revenue from my channel be like, ‘oh, that is money I can use'”, which is a big plus for someone who wants to make a full-time job out of YouTube.
However, he then goes on to add that “recently things have taken a complete 180” for him, with last five videos he uploaded all being demonetised. He says he understood when it happened to the needle-swallowing video he made, but that “the rest of them, including vlogs and card tricks, do not violate any of their community guidelines”.
Steven appealed the decision to see if YouTube would change their mind, which they did – for all the videos, including the needle-swallowing one. However, there’s still a clear issue here, as Steven explains: “A video is going to get the most views in its first sort of like 48-hour window, so if they’ve taken off the ads for that time, I just lose the revenue from that.”
This was all getting too much for Steven, so he went one step further and decided to contact YouTube Support, and wasn’t particularly pleased with their response:
I can't believe he linked me to the guidelines. Did he even read my email?! Missed the whole point. pic.twitter.com/ybZsjmab2p
— Steven Bridges (@StevenBridges) November 11, 2017
He replied to YouTube Support saying that his videos don’t violate any of the guidelines, and that the fact they have been approved for remonetisation demonstrates this. But it seems that Steven has been set in a loop with YouTube continuing to resend the guidelines, even though he is clearly very aware of them.
There are a lot of things about YouTube’s algorithms that we’ll simply never understand. However, although his frustration is evident, Steven remains calm and objective throughout this video which, in the face of inscrutable algorithms and unhelpful responses from YouTube, we think is quite brilliant.
We wish you luck, Steven.
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